More Information

Ernst: Working to keep young people from being homeless

Published: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 5:57 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 5:57 p.m.

He aged out of his foster home when he was 18, while he was still attending Booker High School.

Many kids in similar straits simply drop out of school.

He didn’t. He graduated, partly because he had a benefactor, a volunteer with the Guardian Ad Litem program who owns a rental house. She offered him a place to live for $400, or about half the going rate. He pays for electricity and cable.

Young adults leaving foster care can get $696 a month from the state of Florida to help with their transitional housing until age 23. In this case, that just about covered his primary housing costs.

The benefactor also got him a job at an auto body shop. He’s been working there part-time ever since, making about $1,200 a month. Meanwhile he’s studying at Sarasota County Technical Institute. He’ll graduate in January 2014 with a certificate in body work.

On Monday, the young man told his story at a meeting arranged in Sarasota by the Office of Housing and Community Development, a county-city organization that requested he not be identified by name in order to protect his privacy.

His presentation and the gathering itself raise two points that have been overlooked somewhat in the recent publicity about Sarasota’s homeless population and how it’s being treated.

First, the individuals most visible in the parks and in downtown Sarasota represent only a small portion of those who are homeless in Sarasota County.

For instance, 87 students in the county’s high schools are homeless. That number comes from Ellen McLaughlin, director of the Sarasota Y Schoolhouse Link, and it does not represent potential students who may have dropped out in part because their housing situation was in flux.

Another 90 young people are coming out of, or have come out of, foster homes, putting them at greater risk of homelessness without some assistance, public or private.

Here’s another surprising number. The 2011 census conducted by the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness identified 1,242 people without homes in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Eighty percent had been here at least a year, and 40 percent were women.

Second, lots of people are working quietly to fix things in ways we don’t normally hear of. In January, Housing and Community Development will propose a pilot housing program for homeless high-schoolers and youths coming from foster care.

If the city and county commissioners approve, the pilot would help with rent and utilities for 18 months. It would cost $268,000, the money coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That’s just one example of many initiatives, although an important one, because staving off homelessness for the young is a lot cheaper and more effective than trying to deal with the problems that arise when someone’s life starts down that path.

<p>He aged out of his foster home when he was 18, while he was still attending Booker High School.</p><p>Many kids in similar straits simply drop out of school.</p><p>He didn't. He graduated, partly because he had a benefactor, a volunteer with the Guardian Ad Litem program who owns a rental house. She offered him a place to live for $400, or about half the going rate. He pays for electricity and cable.</p><p>Young adults leaving foster care can get $696 a month from the state of Florida to help with their transitional housing until age 23. In this case, that just about covered his primary housing costs.</p><p>The benefactor also got him a job at an auto body shop. He's been working there part-time ever since, making about $1,200 a month. Meanwhile he's studying at Sarasota County Technical Institute. He'll graduate in January 2014 with a certificate in body work.</p><p>On Monday, the young man told his story at a meeting arranged in Sarasota by the Office of Housing and Community Development, a county-city organization that requested he not be identified by name in order to protect his privacy.</p><p>His presentation and the gathering itself raise two points that have been overlooked somewhat in the recent publicity about Sarasota's homeless population and how it's being treated.</p><p>First, the individuals most visible in the parks and in downtown Sarasota represent only a small portion of those who are homeless in Sarasota County.</p><p>For instance, 87 students in the county's high schools are homeless. That number comes from Ellen McLaughlin, director of the Sarasota Y Schoolhouse Link, and it does not represent potential students who may have dropped out in part because their housing situation was in flux.</p><p>Another 90 young people are coming out of, or have come out of, foster homes, putting them at greater risk of homelessness without some assistance, public or private.</p><p>Here's another surprising number. The 2011 census conducted by the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness identified 1,242 people without homes in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Eighty percent had been here at least a year, and 40 percent were women.</p><p>Second, lots of people are working quietly to fix things in ways we don't normally hear of. In January, Housing and Community Development will propose a pilot housing program for homeless high-schoolers and youths coming from foster care.</p><p>If the city and county commissioners approve, the pilot would help with rent and utilities for 18 months. It would cost $268,000, the money coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.</p><p>That's just one example of many initiatives, although an important one, because staving off homelessness for the young is a lot cheaper and more effective than trying to deal with the problems that arise when someone's life starts down that path.</p><p><i>Eric Ernst's column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at eric.ernst@heraldtribune.com or (941) 486-3073.</i></p>